WASHINGTON - September 6, 2011 - The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has issued a somewhat unusual bulletin warning the security community about the planned activities of hacking collective Anonymous over the next few months.
The bulletin, issued by the DHS National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center (NCCIC), warns financial services companies especially to be on the lookout for attempts by Anonymous to "solicit ideologically dissatisfied, sympathetic employees" to their cause.
Anonymous has recently used Twitter to try and persuade dissatisfied employees within the financial sector to give them information and access. Though such attempts appear to have been so far largely unsuccessful, "unwilling coercion through embarrassment or blackmail may be a risk to personnel," warned the bulletin.
The unclassified DHS communiqué is addressed broadly to those in charge of cyber security and critical infrastructure protection and also warns about new tools that Anonymous has said it plans to use in launching future attacks.
The DHS alert also warns of cyber attacks and civil protests it says are planned by Anonymous and affiliated groups. One attack, dubbed Occupy Wall Street (OWS), is scheduled for Sept. 17.
The so-called “Day of Rage” protest was first announced by a group called Adbusters in July and is being actively supported by Anonymous. The organizers of OWS hope to get about 20,000 individuals to gather on Wall Street on that day to protest various U.S. government policies.
The protest is being coordinated through Adbusters’ website as well as via an Anonymous YouTube video that exhorts followers to "flood into lower Manhattan, set up tents, kitchens, peaceful barricades, and occupy Wall Street for a few months," the DHS noted in its alert.
Similar rallies targeting financial districts are being planned in Madrid, Milan, London, Paris and San Francisco, according to the DHS bulletin.
